Brian Lehrer hosts a WNYC debate panel

WNYC's Brian Lehrer discussed college affordability and the presidential campaign in a two hour radio show taped in Dempster Hall's Studio A with an audience of high school students, University students, faculty and staff on hand.



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--All photos by Erin Furman

Students learn about youth voting from MTV panel

A group of 13 students traveled to MTVu's studio Tuesday morning to take part in a panel on youth voting.

Panelists included Diablo Cody, who wrote the film "Juno," film star Rosario Dawson, Hilary Rosen, the political director of The Huffington Post, Luke Russert, a special youth correspondent for NBC News, Alex N. Vogel, a named partner in the firm Mehlman, and Larry Wilmore, an Emmy and Peabody-award winning correspondent for "The Daily Show."

MTVu is the college affiliate of MTV Networks, and they've spent the 2008 presidential campaign focusing on issues facing young voters. The panel presented a study it conducted about how young voters see issues such as race, gender, and experience of the candidates.

After the presentation, the celebrity panelists discussed their impressions of young people today and young voters’ opportunity for profound impact on the nation.

--Caitlyn Gailvary

Panel previews Vice Presidential Debate

The University hosted a second DebateWatch event Thursday night for the debate between vice presidential nominees Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska).

The event began with a panel of University political science professors, each speaking about what the candidates should be doing during the debate and what to look for.

The panelists included Leslie Feldman, professor of political science, Matt Sobnosky, graduate coordinator for the School of Communication and Stefanie Nanes, assistant professor of political science.

Professor Feldman spoke first about what the nominees should do so as not to embarrass themselves and gave her opinion as to why John McCain chose Palin.

"McCain is considered to be a liberal republican, that's why many conservatives don't like him. That's why he picked Sarah Palin; she's super conservative--she's madam conservative," Feldman said. She then said someone else on the shortlist, former New York State governor George Pataki, was too liberal for McCain to have chosen him because McCain had to pick a conservative to placate his party's base.

Nanes said that Biden "tends to blurt stuff out" adding that "he takes a good point and just runs it into the ground."

The panel ended after one question from an audience member, just in time for the viewing of the Vice Presidential Debate.

--Tejal Patel